


Bitter Words and Sour Tears

by Morbus Aegraque Scribo (TheDarkFlygon)



Series: Bad Things Happen to the Wrong People Because It's More Romanesque That Way (BTHB) [3]
Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Angst, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Gen, I'm Sorry, Is this romantic or platonic I can't fucking tell, M/M, Men Crying, Possibly Out of Character Kujou Ten, Prompt Fill, The definition of not knowing where you're going
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 16:59:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15845529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkFlygon/pseuds/Morbus%20Aegraque%20Scribo
Summary: The tensions between Tamaki and Tenn expended to the entire Takanashi Residence, taking their toll on siblings and their links between them.Iori just happens to be there with an outside view, and as a man of secrets.(and this vague summary is why I shouldn't be trusted with characters I've written before, woops)





	Bitter Words and Sour Tears

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my Bad Things Happen Bingo card!  
> https://morbusaegraquescribo.tumblr.com/post/177380574551/here-is-your-card-for-bad-things-happen-bingo  
> This was written as a reply to my first request for it! This time around is ambiguously romantic IoTenn + "Cry Into Chest"! I had originally something else planned with IoTsumu, but this was a nicer experiment to do. 
> 
> What do you mean I don't know what I'm doing? I hope it won't be too awkward to read, because ya girl Flygon clearly isn't reading this one again.  
> I'm totally not used to writing Tenn so I hope this is all fine! I'm sorry if he comes off as OOC, but I also love the idea that Takanashi Residence!Tenn and Mitsuki would bond over being older siblings, and maybe with Tamaki once the Aya situation gets better. I have yet to transcript this into the TakaRes AU, so this was also a very interesting shot at it!  
> You don't know how difficult it was to make this not sound either too Ioriku or IoTsumu-y, which is funny considering I'm that one fucker who doesn't ship Ioriku.

They had always been kind of distant, even they were linked through Riku Nanase, before that one event. It was more of a professional relationship in a way: it was a mutual, doubtful respect. They didn’t trust each other very much: while they knew the other wouldn’t try to harm them, it still felt like a chore to be around each other.

The thing was: Kujou was Nanase’s twin brother. As soon as they found each other again after a few years of outside shenanigans, including Kujou getting adopted by another family and becoming an idol, he had come to the residence much more frequently.

 

To be fair, Iori was always overly suspicious of visitors coming to the residence, especially if they came around this often. The perks of being part of such a tight-knit colocation was that everybody knew everybody, including the related strangers. How many times had he seen Yotsuba’s little sister too? Apparently, she lived with the Kujous too.

After a while, however, he had come to appreciate these two siblings coming over to the residence, despite the tension between Kujou and Yotsuba over Aya. He always felt like he needed to be near them in case a fight exploded between the two of them, knowing Yotsuba’s impulsive nature and Kujou’s dry and cold demeanour around anyone who wasn’t his twin brother.

 

Watching Tenn Kujou be around Nanase was a way to make him empathize even more with his own big brother. Through the pink eyes of the professional singer, he could see Mitsuki’s instincts: the concern, the empathy, the thoughts and the speaking patterns of the older sibling.  It was almost a social commentary from him, at times: he stood there, nearby, ears wide opened and eyes looking at the scene.

As far as he knew, Kujou had thought for the longest time that Mitsuki was the younger brother and Iori was the older brother, a common misconception solely based on height. However, as soon as Mitsuki spoke about hom, Kujou had seemed to instantly understand he was facing someone with a deep common point with him. Ever since, he had noticed somewhat of a vitriolic complicity, a rivalry in who was the best big brother. Kind of childish, but it proved Kujou wasn’t just a very advanced android Nanase was calling his brother.

 

After a couple months of seeing the weekly visits from the siblings, Iori threw his own shot at getting to know them. The topic he had in mind to come up to Kujou with was as obvious as it could possibly get: as the residence’s unofficial medical help (who was officially Nanase, but if Nanase got an attack, he couldn’t really help anyone else with their health couldn’t he?), he wanted some advice on how to monitor Nanase’s asthma better. Who else was better than the latter’s own brother to ask on the topic?

Kujou stared at him until he dropped the question. Upon that point, the older twin seemed to barely be able to retain the actual kindness he had for his sibling: he would explain in great details how to deal with every single symptom the best way possible, how to make his younger twin more comfortable when these happened, how to tell if an attack was about to happen, how to make the residence better for Nanase…

And then it delved into an impossibly long list of things the residence was faulty at being and providing, including the amount of house dust and how the room placements made it so Nanase’s room was too far from the entrance door in case he had to go to the hospital in a hurry. It was long enough for Iori himself, the man called “the Nit-pick Guy” by his classmates, to think it was nit-picking.

 

Talking about Kujou was fascinating. The latter was always rich in information despite his career of being a J-pop singer with legions of fangirls at his feet. He’d usually say the residence was a good place to avoid paparazzi and obnoxious, voyeur journalists. Not only was it where his little brother was living surrounded by his friends: it was also fairly unknown and drown in the urban landscape, making it a place where people starving for private information would never even try finding said information in.

They sympathized over Nanase in general, how he was a ray of sunshine with heavy health issues which needed to be cared for, but it didn’t stop there. Speaking to the other revealed they weren’t that different: a similar frank speech style, an unordinary amount of talents and skills and, last but not least, a will to help and protect the people they cared about. This was the most relatable part they could find in each other, the click that made Iori think “we could be more than acquaintances”.

 

Alas, the tranquillity of these visits stopped dead in its tracks on one fateful day. It all started with the tensions around Aya: Yotsuba and Kujou disagreed heavily on whether she should have been allowed to visit her brother on her own or if she had to be accompanied by Kujou. The other inhabitants of the residence didn’t dare stepping in, fearing it would backfire on them.

It escalated to Yotsuba throwing a violent fit, a fit only stopped by Aya telling her brother not to hit her other brother. In the end, it got broken off by Osaka and Nikaido, but it had been a close call. Ever since, Yotstuba and Kujou had been forbidden to be near each other unless someone was next to them.

 

This was, however, only the beginning of a snowball effect: people were always weary whenever the Kujous visited because of this incident. Even Mitsuki had grown somewhat distant, just in case it’d be considered taking sides to remain with one or the other when Kujou was around.

Only Nanase didn’t mind, always happy to see his brother visit him, but the visits also became rarer and rarer as a result of the growing tensions. Once a week became once every two weeks, which in turn became once a month. This was obviously saddening Nanase and Yotsuba, but as far as Iori knew, it also had taken a toll on the visitors.

 

He was reading a report for college when someone knocked at his door. He had been a bit unaware of his surroundings because of his approaching exams, so the noise slightly took him aback. In fact, he had been so surprised, he had gotten up to open the door instead of just saying “yes” to this unknown visitor. He could beneficiate from a break anyway.

His surprised turned astonishment when he opened the door to Tenn Kujou’s saddened frown, shining eyes and arms wrapped around himself.

 

“Mind if I come in, Izumi…?”

Concern washing all over him, Iori replied with his heart.

“Not at all. Please come in”, he gestured as he closed the door behind them.

 

Almost like a robot, Kujou sat down on the bed, looking down on the ground. It was kind of an awkward silence between the two of them: Iori didn’t really know what to say, since he didn’t know what had caused Kujou to seem so depressed. So, huh… He’d just have to pop the uncomfortable question.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he sat down on the bed, around ten centimetres away from him.

There was no response for a few, lead-heavy moments. Just silence and the beginning of a weep.

“Do you… mind me venting for a bit…? I don’t want to burden Riku with this… you’re the closest second option I have right now…”

“Go ahead. I’ll keep it a secret if you want it to be so.”

 

Kujou slightly rose his head, but not high enough for his bang not to hide half of his face.

“I may have strained Yotsuba and Aya’s relationship because of my tense links with him…”

Iori didn’t say anything back. He just listened like he’d listen to Mitsuki venting, to Nanase’s thoughts and to Takanashi’s ideas for the residence, with a wise ear open for suggestions and reassuring words to be told.

“I’m only noticing now how much this has impacted Riku and Aya. I should have thought everything out more before the situation got this way…”

Kujou sniffed slightly before resuming.

“I’m aware this got out of hand because I couldn’t control myself around Yotsuba. It’s all my fault if I have to see Aya so afraid to ask me if we can go see her brother and if Riku is so sad whenever I visit. It’s become bittersweet for everyone involved… I’m sorry.”

 

Despite how calm his words and speech were, Iori could notice the ugly tears rearing their face in Kujou’s eyes. He was this close to crying.

“Until I find a way to fix everything with Yotsuba, it’ll stay that way… Don’t tell anyone, Izumi, it’ll just make things worse because Riku and Aya will start themselves himself too…”

“I did say I was going to keep this secret if you wanted.”

“Thank you for listening… You… are a man of confidence…”

 

The singer’s cold and aloof demeanour suddenly broke down as he started to let his sorrow come out, crying between his hands, weeping filling the room with a damp atmosphere, as if rain had started to fall against the windows.

Kind of unable to do much, Iori immediately thought back to what his brother would do whenever he was sad. It was going to be awkward, but he leaned closer to Kujou and opened his arms, slowly wrapping them around the other man in the room.

 

Instead of the rejection he expected, Kujou threw himself in his arms, almost trying lean against his chest, as he let himself express the concerns and guilt he must had had accumulated for the past weeks. This was going to stay in this room until the truth was ready to come out, so he remained silent.

Time seemed to have slowed down by half during this time. It was all silent, but he felt the strange and unfamiliar warmth of someone crying in his chest. It wasn’t what he had expected to see Kujou doing today, perhaps he was expecting nothing more than being the recipient of all the defaults of the residence again, but he didn’t mind. If it meant helping someone out, especially someone who seemed dear to a fellow resident and friend, he would serve as a shelter for a day.

 

Kujou was crying silently, even if he could tell so by how damp his shirt had become. The older boy was barely letting anything out, yet it was painfully clear how hurt he was by everything he thought was his fault. In this silence, all he could hope for was for the situation to get better.

After what felt like minutes, Kujou rose his head again, eyes red and trails on his face. He slowly got out of the improvised embrace, cheeks reddened by what seemed to be both crying and embarrassment of the sudden turn of events. To be fair, Iori was embarrassed too by how bad his instincts were. Perhaps not the best potential big brother around.

 

“Izumi… You’re an analytical genius, right?” he then asked.

“I am. Why so?”

“What do you think the best course of action is?”

“Find a way to peacefully patch things up with Yotsuba. This will ease tensions between you two.”

“That’s what I thought… Thank you for listening. How much do I owe you?”

“An apology to Yotsuba. I’ll try to get him to understand it’ll only be better if he makes an effort in return.”

“Got it.”

 

Kujou got up from the bed and silently exited the room, closing the door behind him again. He had taken back his stance as a singer: perhaps he was already thinking on his apology.

No matter what, feeling useful and comforting for someone was nice.


End file.
